Duggar Family Accused Of Child Abuse By ‘Counting On’ Fans

Fans of Counting On and 19 Kids & Counting are familiar with the Duggar family’s conservative and sometimes controversial parenting methods. Some have even called for boycotts and a CPS investigation because they allegedly use “blanket training” and other forms of systematic abuse. But, Jim Bob and Michelle have never apologized for their methods, and now it looks like their grown children might be following in their parents’ footsteps.

According to In Touch Weekly, fans are worried that the Duggar kids who now are grown and have families of their own are continuing a practice that could result in tragedy.

The Duggar family's association with pastor Michael Pearl — best-known for espousing child abuse as a parenting method — is dividing their fans and calling new attention to allegations from the Duggars' own past: https://t.co/YhHUUCONsg

The Duggars have never gone into specifics about how they discipline their children, but there is reason to believe that they follow the advice of Michael and Debi Pearl who wrote the book To Train Up A Child. For years, the family allegedly had a link to the book on their website under “Family Resources,” and an old version of their family blog said in the FAQ’s that Michelle Duggar practices blanket training.

On top of that, Joy-Anna’s in-laws run the Fort Rock retreat center, and later this year they are hosting family camps led by the Pearls.

In their controversial parenting book, the Pearls advise parents to use corporal punishment to train their child to be obedient. Their discipline methods include hitting children with plastic tubing, “swatting” babies with a wooden spoon, hitting older children with belts and paddles, exposing kids to cold weather, and withholding meals. All of these “training” methods are meant to inflict pain and punishment until a child is “without breath to complain.”

The Pearls’ methods have been linked to at least three child deaths, and a Change.org petition asking Amazon to stop selling their book has collected more than 145,000 signatures.

During Josh Duggar’s 2015 molestation scandal, some fans pointed out that his redacted police report revealed that Jim Bob and Michelle spank their kids with a rod.

No one in the Duggar family has admitted to using corporal punishment, but there has been some evidence that Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard, used the Pearls’ blanket training method. This practice is putting a blanket on the floor and placing your child on it, then swatting them if they attempt to move off of it. Fans also had concerns about Jill after she posted a video last week of her son Samuel eating, and when he threw a piece of food on the floor, she snapped at him.